The Beta Band was catapulted to a shoulder-height level of fame with the movie High Fidelity (2000), starring John Cusack and Jack Black. Their song, “Dry The Rain,” was featured on the soundtrack and the band is actually mentioned in the film.

The Beta Band was a British group, and its members now live on in newer incarnations.

Another track from the same compilation album, “Monolith” (in two parts), reminiscent of Pink Floyd, is below “Dry The Rain.” And hold your incontinence to a minimum, but I’m also throwing in Jack Black’s (partial) cover of Marvin Gaye’s “Let’s Get It On” from High Fidelity. Classic stuff and a total spoiler if you’ve never seen the movie.

I’d pay money for a whole album of Jack Black covering soul classics… Yeah, and I’m a big fan of the entire Jackass franchise of artistic offerings…. And I often breathe through my mouth when I’m busy not thinking… And I like to eat off-brand beef sticks. I’m comfortable with all this.

“I’ve always been a word guy, I like weird words and I like American slang and all that and words that are no longer being used… I like to drag them out of the box and wave them around… this is an interesting one, it’s amazing how in addition to punctuation just a little pause in the wrong place can just completely transform the meaning of something.”
— Tom Waits

The Norwegian-born frontman of Bobby Hughes Experience, Espen Horne, time travels to the 60’s and smuggles grooves back into the future.

This one is called “Seasons” but I can’t give you a good discography, as I don’t have it, and it’s hard to find online. I originally heard it on a cd called Eighteenth Street Lounge Soundtracks – Jet Society which was a soundtrack to something or other.

Mental exercise:
Have you ever wondered what kind of music that great artists would create if they had no outside influences, no concept of what “music” should be? If Mozart had been stranded on an island from birth and he was driven to compose, what would things have sounded like in his head?

I found out Beck is a scientologist a few years ago, and it’s tainted my experience of his music ever since. Scientologists are as ridiculous as creationists and tiny dogs wearing clothes.

Before I found out about Beck’s relationship with The Church, I strongly admired his absurd style and sideways funk… as you can appreciate in the video below. Beck’s a great entertainer, so I try to forgive him his irrationality while still appreciating it. I have to remember that some of the best people the world has ever known have been completely irrational. It takes all kinds, right?

So, for a few moments, drive out thoughts of shady, cult-like organizations, and enjoy.